Amusement apparatus.



PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

S. M. PRIEDE.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15.1904.

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No. 809,937. PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

I S. M. FRIBDE.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15.1904.

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ll NITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL M. FRIEDE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY IV. CARTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

Application filed June 15, 1904. Serial to. 212,711.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL M. FRIEDE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Amusement Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in amusement apparatus of that class which employ a number of observation-carsand means for lifting and swinging said cars in such manner as to give a pleasurable sensation to the passengers, coupled, desirably, with an illusory sensation simulating that which might be produced by a ride in the car of a balloon or air-ship.

An apparatus embodying my improvement will commonly comprise a rotating platform or turn-table, a revolving carrier mounted on a horizontal axis between two upwardly-extending towers on the turn-table, and observation-cars suspended at suitable intervals around the periphery of the carrier. Motive devices will be provided for rotating the turn-table and in the contemplated operation of the apparatus will be run continuously, so as to give the turn-table a constant rotary movement about its vertical axis of rotation. Motive devices will also be provided for rotating the carrier which sustains the observation-cars; but in contemplated operation of the apparatus these will be so controlled or connected as to impart an intermittent rotary movement to said carrier without interfering with the continuous rotary movement of the turn-table. In other words, it is contemplated that the rotary carrier will be stopped from time to time to.

enable the passengers to leave and enter the observation-cars, but that the platform upon which the carrier rests will continue to rotate uniformly notwithstanding these stops.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of an amusement apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention in one form. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a top plan section thereof.

In said drawings, 1 designates a rotary platform or turn-table of circular form, desirably arranged in a pit with its surface flush with the surrounding edges of the pit, so that the passengers may step on and off the platform while it is in motion with the least possible inconvenience. Rising from the opposite sides of the platform 1 are the towers 2, between which a carrier in the form of a supporting-spider 3 is mounted to rotate upon a horizontal shaft 4, resting in bearings 5 on the tops of the towers. As herein shown, the spider 3 consists of four symmetricallyarranged radial arms 6, arranged at right angles to each other and having at their outer extremities laterally-projecting shafts 7, from which pairs of cars 8 are suspended by double links 9, as'shown in Fig. 2.

' A motor 10 is shown as applied to the turn-table 1 to maintain the latter in continuous rotation so long as the apparatus is in use, the gearing 11 of this motor intermeshing with a circular rack 12 on the turntable. Another and independent motor 13 is also shown as applied to rotate the spider 3 independentlyand as desired, this motor being herein shown as geared directly to the shaft 4 of a wheel by a worm-gearing 1. 1. A rectangular fence 15, provided on the platform between the towers 2, forms an inclosure through which the cars move as they near the platform and prevents persons from being struck and hurt by the cars in this movement. The middle of this inclosure constitutes, as it were, a landing-place for the cars, and the passengers enter and leave them here through doors 16, provided at opposite middle points of the fence 15 and registering with doors 17 in the cars.

In the normal operation of this apparatus it is contemplated that the platform or turntable 1 will be maintained constantly in rotation by the motor 10, but at such a low angular velocity as will enable passengers to step off and on the platform without danger or difficulty. On the other hand,it is contemplated that the car-carrier or spider 3 will be rotated intermittently by the motor 13 and ordinarily only just enough at a time to bring the next succeeding car 8 opposite the land ing-place. Thus where four cars are employed, as herein shown, the spider 8 will desirably be moved a quarter-revolution at a time, during which quarter-revolution the car that has just previously occupied the landing-place will be swung up to the level of the axis of the wheel, while the next succeeding car will be IOO swung down from this level to occupy the landing-place in turn. An interval of rest will now ensue, during which one set of passengers will be unloaded from the car occupying the landing-place and another set of passengers allowed to enter, which being accomplished the spider will be rotated through another quarter-revolution or until the next succeeding car has reached the landing-place. During the stoppage of the carrier, however, the passengers previously embarked will not be deprived of a sensation of movement, since the two cars occupying the level of the axis of the wheel will be swung horizontally through the air by the continuous rotary movement of the platform or turn-table, while the cars occupying the uppermost portion of the wheel directly above the landing-place will be subjected to a twisting movement, due to the continuous rotation of the platform, by which the landscape will be made to appear as though swinging before the eyes of the passengers.

Desirably and in the approved construction shown the car-supporting arms 6 of the wheel or spider 3 will be made as narrow as is compatible with sufficient strength, so as to bring the cars as closely as possible into a plane of rotation coincident with the vertical axis of the turntable, and as the cars are suspended on the opposite sides of these arms and are closed at their inner or rear sides the passengers will be prevented from seeing the mechanism which supports the cars except for a temporary glimpse of the base of the tower as the cars move toward and from the landing-place. In otherwords, the sensation given the occupants of each car during much the greater portion of the ride will be the same as though the car were suspended beneath and carried by a balloon or air-ship, and this illusion will approvedly be heightened by mirrors placed in the cars so as to cut off the carrier from the view of the passengers and reflect to their gaze only the open side of the car, which they normally face. It is contemplated that the passengers will be seated within the cars on tiers of outwardlyfacing seats or benches 19, Fig. 2, with their backs to the mirrors and with their faces directed toward the open fronts of the cars, through which the surrounding landscape may be viewed. Safety-rollers 20, anchored in the foundation or pit walls and bearing upon the upper face of an annular flange 21' on the under side of the turn-table, will serve to resist any tendency of the structure to tip over under any undue stress of wind or other unbalancing pressure. Suitable supportingwheels 22, running on a circular track 23, will normally support the platform and structure with but little resistance to their rotation.

An amusement apparatus constructed and operating substantially as thus described will represent the best embodiment of this invention of which I am at present aware; but it will nevertheless be understood that the invention is capable of advantageous use to a greater or less degree in apparatus constructed and operating differently in some respects and in which the independence of the rotary movement of the platform and carrier and the continuity of the drive of the platform may not have been preserved.

I claim as my invention 1. An amusement apparatus, comprising a rotary platform, a carrier mounted on a horizontal axis and supported over the center of said platform, observationcars suspended from said carrier, means for rotating the platform, and means for rotating the carrier independently of the rotation of the platform, substantially as described.

2. An amusement apparatus, comprising a turn-table, means for maintaining the turntable continuously in rotation, a carrier mounted on a horizontal axis approximately intersecting the vertical axis of the turn-table and supported centrally on said platform, observation-cars suspended from said carrier, a landing-place on the platform at which passengers may enter the cars, and means for rotating the carrier to bring the cars in succession to the landing-place, substantially as described. I 3. An amusement apparatus, comprising a zontal axis and supported centrally on said rotary platform, a carrier mounted on a horiplatform, observationcars suspended from said carrier, a landing-place on the platform, and means for giving independent rotary movement to the carrier to bring the cars in succession to the landing-place, substantially as described.

4. An amusement apparatus, comprising a rotary platform, towers rising from said plat form, a rotary carrier mounted between said towers with its axis approximately over the center of the platform, observation-cars suspended from said carrier, means for rotating the platform, and means for giving intermittent rotary movement to said carrier independently of the rotation of the platform, substantially as described.

- 5. An amusement apparatus, comprising a rotary platform, a rotary carrier mounted upon a horizontal shaft supported over the center of the platform, observation-cars suspended from the carrier in pairs arranged back to back on opposite sides of the carrier and having outwardly-facing seats, means for rotating the platform, and means for giving intermittent rotary movement to the carrier independently of the rotation of the platform, substantially as described.

6. An amusement apparatus, comprising a rotary platform, a rotary carrier mounted upon a horizontal axis and supported over the center of the platform, observation-cars suspended from the carrier, and mirrors in the cars cutting off the View of the carrier and reflecting the open fronts of the cars, substantially as described.

7 An amusement apparatus, comprising a rotary platform, towers rising from said platform, a rotary carrier mounted between said towers on a shaft supported approximately over the center of the platform, observationcars suspended from said carrier a landingplace for the observation-cars located near the center of the platform at the foot of the tower, means for rotating the platform, and 

